MRI Day

Today is the day that my horse goes in for his MRI. I'm nervous about what they are going to find. First off, I hope they can get some good scans of his feet. He will need to stand perfectly still in the machine for 46 minutes for each foot. They will scan both feet so they can compare the left (the ouchie one) with the right (the one that has no pain, and the leg that Dr. B. says is "his only good one at this point". Nice.). The MRI machine is specially made for horses and isn't like the ones they use for people, if it's the same one shown here -



which I think it is. So it's not like they are going to knock my horse out, put him on a bed, and slide him into a gigantic MRI machine. He just needs to stand with his foot in a cuff.

But it's not like you can reason with him and tell him to stand still. Sure, he'll be drugged, but he can't sway or shift his weight or anything. I was told by both Dr. B. and Dr. A. that there will be a team of people there to pet Kaswyn and talk to him to help ensure that he stays still. He only needs two scans, but Dr. A. says that sometimes they get 40 minutes into the 46 minute scan and the horse moves, so they have to start all over. This means that even though they start the process at 1 pm, they might not get clean scans until 6 or 7 at night. Sounds very stressful, especially the longer the horse goes into the scan without moving. I think my horse will be great, but I'm sure most owners think that.

I'll be heading over to the clinic after work today. Hopefully they will be close to done by the time I get there and then I'll be able to go over the scans with Dr.A. The next step will be diagnosis and treatment options. Believe me, I'm ready to get Kaswyn on the road to recovery.